Old Familiar Ground

We're on old familiar ground, a grandma and grandpa motel deep in the Smoky Mountains, simple fare, bed and dresser with the low metal heater on the window.  I sit by the light of the sun and Betty by the old bed lamp each reading our Bible.  We always stay here when we come for rest and quiet.  It’s out of the way, passed up by the hard commercial crust crumbling at the edge of the mountains, a hidden spot with only a few rooms, one of which is always available.  When you check in they give you a coffee pot, a faded newspaper of local fare, the old metal key with the room number on the diamond shaped piece of plastic and a warm smile from a wrinkled face that says “we’re glad you’re here.”  The only thing they offer is rest and that is the one thing we are always looking for.  I’m glad we’re here too.

Evil

Evil is live spelled backwards.  There is one way to live and that is in harmony with God by the redemptions of Christ in the power of The Holy Spirit.  To live backwards to that is always a real option, but the reality of the option should be considered before chosen. 

“Oh Christ, how can I ever cease to thank Thee that amid the stumbling's of life I happened on this—The Way!  It fills me with constant surprise that I, even I, have found The Way…”

Reading E. Stanley Jones

Mapping Across The Fine Line

A fine line exists between joy and despair and we often cross it without meaning to or even knowing how or why we found ourselves across it.  The key is to find the way back and I am convinced it is tied to knowing God, to somehow reconnect our spirit to Him.  I have not found the automatic path, the instantaneous method the absolute rule that guarantees success but have only determined Who the Guarantor is.  The route is filled with praise, faith and acting joyous until you become joyous but the path is never completely known.

Brilliant Brilliance

A rain came on in the dark this morning.  I had not expected it but was sitting quietly on my porch reading and have good coffee.  It started abruptly, not gently raining in to a rising chorus but a heavy rain suddenly.  It made me pause and think of how many rains I have heard begin.  A few surely but this is the first time I had given it much thought.  Starting a project, beginning a new work in my studio is always enjoyable but it must be marvelous to begin rain.  God You are always tapping on my heart saying kindly, “I AM Brilliant Brilliance!”

“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

Sing praises to our God on the lyre,

Who covers the heavens with clouds,

Who provides rain for the earth,”

Psalms 147: 7,8

Clues To Knowing God Reigns

You know that God’s Spirit reigns when the first bird you see light on your bird feeder causes you to audibly speak to it in tones reserved for the meeting of long lost friends. 

You know that God’s Spirit reigns when you see the first lawnmower of the season and you inhale deeply through your nose trying desperately to partake in the heavenly aroma of fresh cut grass.